Government pays high rate for Thursday's 1.35b cedi bond

10/25/2015

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Reports available to Pulse Business from the Central Bank reveal that foreign international investors make up 84.09 percent of the investors who showed interest in the bond.

Government is set to pay a higher interest rate on the 3 -year cedi dominated bond issued on Thursday. The Bank of Ghana got a 24.5 percent fixed rate for the cedi denominated bond that was geared towards raising some GHC1.5 billion to restructure and retire maturing debt.

This figure is an increase from the 23.47 percent government paid on a similar bond in May.

Reports available to Pulse Business from the Central Bank reveal that foreign international investors make up 84.09 percent of the investors who showed interest in the bond. The bank said it accepted GHC994.9 million ($262.5 million) in bids for the bond out of 1.35 billion cedis ($399 million) tendered.

Government earlier this year got approval from parliament to raise a maximum of 1.5 billion dollars on the Eurobond market. Government floated only 1 billion dollars at an unexpected rate of 10.75 percent coupon rate.

Subsequently, the deputy finance minister, Monah Quartey revealed her ministry will float a second bond to raise the rest of the $500, 000.

Whereas concerns are rife over the country's debt situation, some economists have drawn a strong link between the country's debt situation and its fast depreciating currency. The Ghana Cedi has seen over 50 percent downward plummet between 2014 and 2015, which according to these economists mean, the country's debt situation would have worsened by a similar percentage since most of the debt portfolios are in foreign currencies.

Ghana was one of Africa's strongest economies for years due to revenues from its exports of gold, cocoa and oil. But the government estimates growth at 3.5 percent this year because of lower global commodities crisis and fiscal problems.